Text: Pages 229 and 230

In the Moral Treatment model, the mentally ill were treated as valued members of the Quaker family. As with any family, the expression of kindness, love, attentiveness, and respectful discipline brought order that was missing in asylum medicine. Gone from Moral Treatment was the verbal abuse and punitive environment of the asylums. The Quakers discovered that verbal or physical punishment only made mental illness worse; listening and engaging in “soft speech” was the key to healing.